Next time just print an article calling her shit. It'll be less questionable

I cannot believe the amount of DS readers either dismissing this, or arguing that because Rihanna uses the N word, this article is ok, or she even ‘deserves it.’ Even the fact that DS have put the word racist in inverted commas is totally unbelievable to me, when there can be no mistake that this word and moreover the article itself is laden with negative, RACIST stereotypes of black women. I am a black woman, and I don’t use the N word, I hate the sound of it, the history of it, no black or white persons in my circle would ever utter such and I don’t believe it can ever be liberated from the shackles of its nasty, nasty origins. Others do not feel the same way and each to their own, black people do say this to one another, but I cannot believe there is anyone so stupid to think that it means the same thing for a person who is not of African origin (or even Asian, as this term has historically been used indiscriminately to non-whites) to say this to a person of African descent, I recommend they pick up a book, paper, watch Roots for God’s sake, get a clue, I’m certainly not going to explain to you the obvious. But what is more frustrating is the whole article, I wonder if people here have bothered to read it before passing judgement. it refers to her having ‘a ghetto ass,’ what pray tell is that, I can only infer that it refers to her having a big, black, bum, the article equates the features of her ethnic origin with ‘ghetto’ how the hell is that not racist? It calls her Jamaican, lumping her in with all the other Caribbean’s ignoring the fact she is Bajan, then goes onto to make a flippant comment about people dressing this way being likely to start fights at day-care, oh yes all those broke, single mother, black chicks with attitude. Not racist? Then there’s the lame justification that the term N**** B**** it used commonly in mainstream media, well colour me eremitic because I don’t recall the last time I heard that term on television or radio. Calling someone N**** and calling someone N****B**** is not the same, although equally vile one is racist AND sexist, its the age old trap of 'double jeopardy' assuming racism is a black man's struggle and sexism is a white woman's struggle, and as sexist as hip hop can be you, this is thankfully not a pervasive term. You won’t find it mainstream rap, you might find it in the NWA style hard-core rap of the early 90s, a dying genre, and rarely actually referring to women, it’s usually to men, but this is not something that is said daily, that’s totally incorrect. Rihanna might say N****, wrong as that is, she doesn’t say N**** B**** no civilised person does! More frustrating is the idea that actually because there was no intent…. No intent? What intent? Do people think you have to say ‘we hate black people, they suck, we’re better,’ to be racist or intentionally try to hurt black people? The racial stereotyping in that article reveals that they have preconceived notions of how black women look, dress and behave that are extremely derogatory and not true of the many, brilliant, wonderful, black women making a difference in this world. The fact that they don't recognise that in themselves is evidence of how deeply those notions run, and how arrogant they are. Disgusting.
Last edited by Chacoally : 22-12-2011 at 17:54

What the editor said about Rihanna was totally unacceptable and she was right to resign from
the magazine . (I recall a similar
ruckus after an Irish website used the word to describe
poor Samantha Mumba ).

But here's the thing: if the editor had also been a
black woman, would this issue have provoked so
much controversy?

Shocking i'm glad the editor is gone

Not that I am defending Eva Hoeke in the slightest, what she was wrong. I cannot tolerate racist people. However, how can Rihanna loose her cool after she herself says the N word in Man Down, Do Ya Thing, G4L and You Da One? Bit hypocritical isn't it? Neither person should've said it...

It's because Rihanna is black, which is why she's allowed.

It's odd, though, that it only seems to be African-Americans
who use offensive terms to refer to themselves in
music. I don't recall any Jewish-American singers using
"the K Word" in their songs, or Native American
singers using "I*jun".

The n-word isn't universally used by black people. There are plenty of black people who don't use it and don't like to hear other black people hearing it.